Making my way through the murky darkness, I opened the inn’s double doors and went inside to wait beneath a half-lit chandelier in the foyer.
A few minutes later, the wasp swept down the stairs, all black skirts and stiff posture.
She’d left her hair down, the soft brown waves reaching nearly to her waist. I wanted it wrapped around me, falling in time with her body. A dark curtain shielding us from the world as we discovered each other.
Something in me stirred to life.
Not in the usual places.
Higher.
In my chest.
And I didn’t like it one bit.
12
Two couples shareda table near the fireplace in the snug at the front of the guesthouse. They glanced at us when we walked in, and their eyes widened. Their derogatory whispers carried on peat-scented air. Keelynn didn’t seem to notice as I steered her toward a table near the exit.
“Are you drinking stout?” I asked.
Grimacing, Keelynn clutched the material at her waist. “I can’t stomach it tonight. I’ll have a glass of red wine, please.”
I nodded and went to the dented bar at the back where two old men sipped from flagons of ale. The closer I drew, the worse they smelled. Farmers, from the look of their muck-riddled boots and faces creased by weather and age.
Light from the candles glinted off the liquor bottles displayed on the far wall. After pouring a pint of amber, the bartender approached me with narrowed eyes.
“Before I serve you,” he said, his hand falling to the pistol tucked into the top of his breeches, “I want you to know that if you’re lookin’ for trouble, you’d best be doin’ it elsewhere.”
“I’m only interested in two glasses of red wine,” I said with a congenial smile that made the man harrumph.
He collected a bottle from the end of the shelf, returning to fill two small glasses. When he told me the price, I almost changed my mind about the trouble. “That’s twice as expensive as anywhere else.” And I didn’t need to taste what he had poured to know it was the cheapest available.
Cocking an eyebrow, he crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Do you want the wine or not?”
Prejudiced bastard.
Did shooting him with his own pistol count as “looking for trouble”?
Cursing under my breath, I handed over the coins. The man didn’t deserve a ‘thank you’ for extorting me, so I grabbed the wine and pasted on a smile for my female companion.
“Oneladylikeglass of wine,” I said, setting a long-stemmed glass in front of her, “and a gentlemanly glass of the same for myself.”
“You? A gentleman?” She snorted. “Hardly.”
“I could be if I tried.” My parents had done their best with me. Eava reminded me of that on a daily basis. I could pretend, but what was the point? It wasn’t as if I was normally trying to impress anyone.
“Yeah, right.”
“You don’t believe me?”
She shook her head.
“All right, then. How about a wager? For two hours of your choosing, I will be a perfect gentleman. If I don’t meet your standards, you keep your coins when we reach Tearmann.”It wasn’t as if I needed the money. The treasury overflowed with coin, and we had storehouses across the country with more. The upside of having very few options when it came to trade and imports was that we never wasted funds on frivolous things. A handful of ships came to the small bay near the castle once a quarter. And if we needed anything else, I sent Rían to Airren to purchase it.
“And if you manage to pull it off?” she asked.
If I managed to pull it off . . . “You let me unlace your stay.”No sense mincing words at this stage. Not after I’d confessed my intentions last night.